Ammonia synthesis goes electric

A key ingredient in synthetic fertilizer, approximately 175 million tonnes of ammonia is produced annually. But the vast quantities in which it is made, and the energy-intensive nature of its production, means ammonia plants consume approximately 2% of global energy production, and produce a similar proportion of global carbon dioxide emissions.

With the rapidly increasing availability of renewable electricity, researchers can see an alternative pathway to ammonia. In a young research field in which early claims of electrochemical ammonia production have often not stood up to scrutiny, the handful of robust results involving lithium-mediated ammonia production could form the solid foundation from which a clean ammonia future begins to be built.